God of Piano

“These days, undergraduate students have a high standard.”

“The level is good, but in my eyes, the passion of the students is more visible. I don’t know if it’s okay to put it like this, but he was the happiest-looking Rachmaninoff in the world.”

“It is a strange expression.”

“It was a strange stage. A stage that is hard to expect on a professional stage.”

“Well, it’s not easy to see a stage that expresses stupidity in such a sophisticated and attractive way.”

After the stage was over, the audience who came out of the seats all had pretty happy faces, as if they had tasted a good stage. Of course, not everyone was satisfied. Among them, there were many people who were frowning as if they were regretting something. The old man sitting next to Alice did just that.

“Good. It’s good, but not enough to make it float like this.”

“Why? I could just have fun.”

“You can have fun. But even if it was a professional stage, would it have been poured out? Rather, it was the cheers that I was able to receive because it was a student stage. ‘Even though I’m a student, do I go this far?’ It is the underlying thought.”

“・・・・・Hmm, I don’t know.”

Alice shrugged. Standing by her side was Jeff Bilson, who was famous for being harsh among music critics. But in his eyes, even a little ‘It’s okay.’ He was not a bad critic, even if he was harsh, in that performers who heard the same sound always showed great success later.

So Alice had no choice but to ask.

“But wasn’t the pianist all right? It’s a performance that I really like these days.”

“I will not deny that there is a possibility. I know you know how to enjoy music. But that’s fine only in the realm of amateurs. It’s a different story in the professional realm.”

“But you’re not really a pro yet, are you?”

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“At this age, there is nothing strange about being a pro. If you still want to be evaluated by amateur standards even after you come to the undergraduate level, I don’t want to say a word in the first place.”

“In that respect, can I say that he is still good enough to say a word to me?”

“Hey, why do you keep trying to solve my words in a good way?”

“No, I told you. I think I like it these days. I just want to check. That I made a good friend.”

“Hey, that’s a matter for you to decide on your own. It’s already been over ten years since you entered the music club, isn’t it time to be confident in your own judgment?”

“yes yes. right what.”

Alice smirked. Seeing that self-confident smile, as if he could clearly see something inside Jeff, Jeff frowned, feeling more uncomfortable. It was the moment he opened his mouth to say something. A quiet voice cut through them.

“Aren’t you Mr. Jeff?”

“······Kuhmm, Aiden. Long time no see.”

“yes. teacher. long time no see. I never expected to see you here.”

“How many times has this friend begged me to say that she has a friend to check on…”

“So was it worth checking?”

“well. Are you a disciple? The friend who played the piano.”

“yes. That’s right.”

“Teach me properly. Time is not infinite. You know?”

Han understood why Jeff said that. So I had no choice but to smile more quietly and nod my head.

“yes. Yes. I know. Don’t worry. teacher.”

“I know why you came to this school, but I still liked the time you sat in front of the piano. These days, there are only vagrants pretending to be there. Do you know how depressing it is for an old man like me to have one less pianist he can trust?”

“sorry. teacher. Still, I plan to go on stage at this music festival, albeit in a modest way, so please visit us when the time is right.”

“What did I come to this distant California for?”

“If you say so, I just want to thank you.”

“When the time comes, we’ll have a beer soon. I miss the beer I drank with you.”

“I do. I will contact you.”

“okay. See you next time.”

Jeff cleared his throat for no reason and stepped away. Looking at his back as he walked away, Han smiled and spoke to Alice.

“Did you bring that person because you wanted to show Rowoon?”

“I came to California because of you, Aiden. Although I have a feeling that I brought it to this stage today.”

“I think you liked Rowoon?”

“It has charm. I prefer pianists who are being perfected rather than perfected pianists. I have to say that I have the taste of cheering you on.”

“Anyway, thank you for liking me so much.”

“Well, it’s not that lacking. And I’m doing my job too. So there is no need to be grateful. Oh, and… Jungwoo, your son’s stage is coming soon.”

“······Yes.”

“I plan to go on stage and watch it properly. How much of Aiden’s blood did you inherit? I’m looking forward.”

“That is a scary word.”

“Ah, what kind of humility. Ah, first of all, I’ll have to go after Mr. Jeff. If I leave it as it is, I don’t know what kind of reaction it will take later. See you next time!”

Alice waved her hand and began to run precariously in high heels. I was in the middle of wondering how women could live well wearing such unstable shoes. A low voice came from behind.

“You seem to be doing well. Seok Hoon.”

“…”

It wasn’t simply because the voice was speaking Korean. To hear it, it was a very familiar voice. When Han turned his head, a middle-aged man with gray hair was watching him, touching his rimless glasses.

Han said in a surprised voice.

“······Kim Jinyoung?”

＜ California Music Festival (15) ＞ End

＜ California Music Festival (16) ＞

At the California Music Festival, music doesn’t just flow from the stage.

Even on the streets walking down the street, it was easy to find musicians holding their own instruments. Among them, there were not only current students but also graduates, and occasionally amateur performers who came from outside the conservatory.

Completeness and color are different. Although the tone of the music was blurred and faded from time to time, buried in the sound of people’s footsteps and speech, there was a feeling that the conservatory, which was imbued with such performances, gave a warm aftertaste somewhere. Like a Christmas street with carols playing, like that.

“I heard it was great yesterday?”

“My sister too.”

After taking a sip of the cold brew, Rowoon shrugged. The time period Rowoon did the piano concerto and the time period Rami did the violin concerto overlapped. Thanks to that, we couldn’t hear each other’s performances, but there was nothing to regret. Rami smiled at the raccoon poster on the wall.

“See you on the raccoon stage. How well you played.”

“Is that raccoon going up on stage? I don’t know yet.”

“It’s enough for me to hear that your stage was good. I didn’t even ask first. All the kids who have been on your stage are busy talking about you first.”

“Hmm, I asked Jungwoo hyung directly about my sister.”

“know? Getting compliments from Jungwoo is the hardest thing. He pretends to be docile and never says anything he doesn’t like?”

“Jungwoo-hyung has something like that.”

Of course I didn’t hate it. I thought that not saying empty words about music means that I take music seriously.

“Is it Header’s turn today?”

“yes. You seemed a bit more sensitive than usual.”

“Don’t even do that. You and I have been forming rivals ever since the competition. Also, since your performance yesterday was better than usual, can you not do it even if you don’t want to do it?”

“Rivals… hahahaha.”

It was a strange story. Even though Heather is acting like a nerd around him now, her name was quite famous in the music world. Even now that Rowoon has become famous, it is still to the extent that it is not a game compared to its popularity itself. But to see such a woman as Rowoon’s rival in Rami’s eyes.

‘It must have come a lot. I.’

Of course, there is still a long way to go. Rowoon murmured.

“Compared to Jungwoo hyung, I was still a long way off.”

“Jeong Woo? Whooping… it’s fun.”

“yes? What.”

“A year ago when I was in a slump for a long time, I thought that if Jungwoo had heard you talk like this now, he would have really liked it. no. Did you think I was making fun of you?”

“Was it that bad then?”

“Have you ever had stage fright?”

“I’ve been nervous, but… to the point of phobias.”

“To the point of being overcome by a phobia, Jungwoo couldn’t trust his playing. And when the spirit is like that, of course the quality of the performance is bound to drop as well. To be honest, I couldn’t even listen to Jungwoo’s performance at that time. I’m not going to say that anything is possible with mental strength, but it’s true that without mental strength, anything is impossible, right? What can I do?”

So you don’t waver, okay? said Rami. Rowoon nodded confidently, saying that there would be no such thing, but to be honest, thinking about him before he got the Walkman made me feel a bit pricked.

After drinking coffee with Rami for a while, Rowoon met Chris. Chris couldn’t hide his excitement and tousled Rowoon’s hair violently.

“Nice job, kid. like my brother You are like a brother.”

“I know you did a good job, but can you not touch your hair? It dried hard.”

Rowoon grumbled. In return, Chris messed up Rowoon’s hair once again. When Rowoon glared at Chris with a half-dead face, Chris smiled and said,

“How is Heather now?”

“······well? What can I say about yesterday, he seemed to be full of energy. I haven’t seen you yet today.”

“I’m looking forward to today’s stage. Either messy or huge, I’m pretty sure it’s one or the other.”

“I know it’s huge… but why is it messed up?”

“You’re just making mistakes because you’re too ahead of yourself. Isn’t that a common thing?”

Will Heather make such a clumsy mistake? I thought about it for a moment, but Rowoon soon agreed. okay. I thought that he might be vulnerable to such a mistake because he is a header, not anyone else.

“It’s against the rules.”

“what.”

“Yesterday, your Raphie Hyeop. I’m not a pianist, but my heart beats for nothing. In a way, you were trolling Heather very well.”

“······Trolling is playing hard. It’s a bit unfair.”